Articles for Mediators
How To Use Social Media for Fun, Learning, and Profit
By Virginia Colin | For mediators, social media provide opportunities to educate the public and talk with colleagues. Sometimes you get free advertising.
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Child Inclusive Mediation: Research on Views of the Child Reports in Ontario
By Rachel Birnbaum and Nick Bala | How can mediators and courts give children a safe, useful and cost-efficient way to make their perspectives known when decisions about parenting plans are being made? Some research is available.
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THE TIME IS NOW: Frequently Asked Questions and Observations about Credentialing Mediators
By Steve Erickson | We need a way to assess skills and provide credentials for family mediators who are client-centered, non-coercive, and respectful of self-determination. Other approaches masquerading as mediation are confusing the public.
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The Sagas of Mr. & Ms. Nasty and Mr. & Ms. Nice
By Larry Gaughan | Clients who get loud and nasty during mediation may nevertheless reach a fair settlement. Nice clients may not. Conflict resolution models help clarify what is happening.
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Should We Mediate Restraining Orders?
By Bill Eddy | Negotiating restraining orders in mediation might be letting aggressors bully victims into canceling protective orders. Are there exceptions?
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Self-Determination and Standards of Practice
By Larry Gaughan | Ethical Standards of Practice based on definitions of “self-determination” must take into account the full complexity of the issues involved.
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Mediation and Our Spiritual Journeys in a Material World
By Larry Gaughan | Even during divorce, perhaps the best way to describe our paths through life is that we are each on a spiritual journey. Mediators can help people refocus on their new spiritual journeys through the material world of present family finances and future security.
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Do Retired Judges Really Mediate?
By Larry Gaughan | Many retired judges call the process they use mediation, but a good look at what they do shows that it has almost all of the characteristics of the adversarial litigation system. One basic principle of every set of mediator ethics is that mediation not be coercive. When there are very long meetings (sometimes past midnight), often with a trial date close at hand,
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Divorce Mediation: A House Divided (Part II)
By Lenard Marlow | Mediators need to make sure that they are not giving legal advice, holding themselves out as lawyers, or practicing law in any manner. Some nevertheless say that it is OK for mediators who are not lawyers to write divorce settlement agreements.
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Divorce Mediation: A House Divided (Part I)
By Lenard Marlow | For family mediation to become recognized as a profession, one path is certification. But should that be rooted in law, in mental health work, or elsewhere?
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Why Divorce Does Not Belong in the Court System
By Steve Erickson | Mediators, frustrated judges, attorneys, therapists, clergy and the husbands and wives who use the inherently adversarial court system for divorce must band together to create change.
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Go In Peace
By Bruce D. Clarkin | The pain, fear and anger that accompany divorce are the grist for our mediation process and, as we start the process, we often do now know how the process will be informed by those emotions.
read moreYou may have interest in prior editions of APFM’s newsletter, The Professional Family Mediator.